Often Irreverent, Mostly Rational Blog for Fans of the Toronto Blue Jays. One Day, We'll Be Perfect.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

It's hard to be bitter after a sweet night like that

If you read our carefully through our whingeing and griping yesterday, you'll see that there was no doubt in our mind that Roy Halladay was capable of a stupendous performance like yesterday's no-hitter of the Reds. And it's not that we wished any ill will towards our one-time hero. (Okay, not much ill will, anyways.)

The crux of it is this: It's a lot easier to get on with life after Doc by just ignoring him and pretending not to notice much of what he's up to. Moreover, it's like daggers to our Blue Jay loving heart every time we hear about Roy's "11-year wait" to get into the playoffs, and how he's finally getting the opportunity that he so richly deserves. How it was so sad that he never got the chance to pitch this sort of game before, and how it is so great that he was able to pick this particular situation to get himself over the top.

Hearing that shit just makes us want leap off a cliff.

And if we're being honest here, we'll confess to being more than a little jealous that our Roy is suddenly becoming everyone else's Roy as well.

But, as our Twitter pal MK Piatkowski quite rightly pointed out last night, we Blue Jays fans had our moment of swiping another franchise's icon away so that he could finally taste glory, so Doc's moment in the spotlight might well be a measured turnabout for what we did to the Milwaukee Brewers with Paul Molitor back in 1993.

In the end, it's really not about us and our sour patch of hurt feelings. It's about watching a guy who gave you so much as a fan continue to burnish his reputation, and make the world see what an extraordinary talent he is. And on that level, there's a certain contentment in seeing Doc shine.

28 comments:

i have no idea why people have a problem with Jays fans rooting for Roy. what else should one use as criteria for cheering when one's team is not in the playoffs? the organization helped Roy become the force that he is but failed Roy in terms of putting a winning team around him.

cheering for Roy is as much a sad reflection on how little the Jays have given their fans over the last 15 years as it is anything else.

I think Doc will be in the Hall of Fame one day, and I always thought he would have a Blue Jays cap for the induction. That gave me comfort. Anyone else starting to wonder whether that assumption might turn out to be false?

I don't give a rats ass what cap Doc wears into Cooperstown, if that is his final baseball destination. The logo on that cap won't tell the whole story. When we look back at Doc's career, yes, single games like his perfect game, and his no-hitter last night will of course stand out. But his body of work in Toronto, against the AL East during Boston and New York's free-spending ways, will stand the test of time.

After Roy was traded, I always hoped deep down that after he went to the playoffs and won championship(s), that he'd come back to Toronto to finish his career once his contract was done with the Phillies.

My hope has quickly faded away with Roy's perfect game, being in playoffs for the first time and of course, his no-hitter in the playoffs.

Doc will end his career as a Philly. I don't see him coming back to Toronto. Not after tasting sweet victory in the playoffs.

Roy Halladay is the greatest Jay ever and has EARNED our continued respect and admiration. His amazing performance last night should have been as enjoyable for us Jay fans as Philly fans as indeed for any baseball fan.

Personally, I love the guy and am not bitter he is with Philly, indeed if anything I am now a Philly fan because of him. He earned being able to leave us because he spent 12+ years with us and no, we couldn't give him what he wanted, nay, earned. - A shot at the post season.

I will follow everyone of his starts and cheer him always because I am a Jays fan, a Doc fan and a baseball fan.

C'mon, Tao. Say Doc had stayed here this year, and something miraculous happened and we made the playoffs. Do you seriously think that his debut wouldn't have included the words "11-year wait"? Such a bullshit thing to nitpick about. It IS sad that he never got the chance to play in that sort of game before. Do you not think it's sad?!

I understand that the comments feel snide to you, but they aren't. They're true.

He belongs to a lot of other people now, yeah. Doesn't make him any less yours.

I'd say it makes him significantly less ours, but Navin made his case pretty clearly over on BLS:

"Look, I'm tired of the "why should I cheer for my ex-girlfriend?" analogy."

"I'm also sick of the "We've known Doc was this good for the past five years!" complaints."

And he doesn't care what hat Doc wears if he gets into Cooperstown.

I guess we have nothing to bitch about then. We like to watch baseball and players who play baseball at a high level. Why have teams at all? They can all wear uniforms in the same shade of gray and we can watch them play.

I'm a Phillies fan, and I stopped by to see what the reaction to last night among Jays fans would be. As a Philly fan, I can't fault anyone for being bitter or angry (it's what we do best), but I do sympathize with you guys. It's obvious what he meant to you guys, and it hasn't taken long for us to see why. He's one of a kind for sure, and I'm happy to see most of you pulling for him. That said, I know it sucks seeing him do it for another team. We felt something similar when Schilling went to Arizona, only the years since have made it easier to forget him.

You had an entertaining as all hell team up there this year and seem to be loaded with young pitching. Brighter days are ahead, and if nothing else we can agree on this: Anyone but the Yankees.

Priest! How does it make him any less ours? Did he go away to Philadelphia and hurt your feelings? Does it sadden you that other people love him and he is experiencing deserved success? Roy Halladay is not your favourite fucking indie band. Your time with him is not lessened by his time elsewhere.

Roy Halladay would never have become who he is now without the time he spent here. Don't think he doesn't realize it. He doesn't throw two no hitters in a season, doesn't end up in the playoffs, doesn't become arguably the most dominate pitcher of the decade.. if he doesn't cultivate it in Toronto.

You can piss and moan all you like. But lording a grudge over Halladay because American media is talking about him more often now is ridiculous! What does any of that have to do with Doc? Aim your hurt feelings at ESPN.

I'd just refer you to one of the many "being a fan doesn't always mean being reasonable" posts from the various Jays blogs.

One thing I should clarify, I am not mad at Halladay in any way; I just wish the Jays were in the post-season. If I am being completely honest, part of me wishes he wasn't so instantly brilliant for his new team, but don't think I've been sticking pins in my Todd MacFarlane Roy Halladay figure.

Priesty, I wish the Jays were in the postseason too. I wish Doc was doing what he's doing for Philly in Toronto. But he's not. Enough with the "what if" scenarios. The Jays aren't in the postseason, and, for me, Doctober's the next best thing. That's it, that's all.

Thanks for mentioning what I said, Tao. I remember someone mentioning the analogy before the trade and it stuck with me. (Damn if I can find that post now though.)

Thanks for swinging by, 85. I never imagined in '93 how it must have been for Brewers fans, just enjoyed Molitor playing. Wouldn't blame you guys for doing the same thing. Somehow it helps me deal with this when Phillies fans acknowledge our pain. And yes, anyone but the Yankees.

Good for Doc. Karma sucks. And I can't even deal with the idea that Doc will go in the HOF not a Jay right now.

BFF, as much as I'd like us to be bffs, you need to appreciate the many layers of emotional complexity in Tao's writing. It's kind of like the many layers of the burrito that Tao has every day for lunch.

Another Phillies fan here to reiterate what 85 said earlier. I can truly feel your pain having been through similar circumstances.Reggie White in football was truly loved here but he was made to leave by an arrogant owner who wouldn't even offer him a contract. I was happy for him when he won with Green Bay. Thank you for letting us share your "Doc" he is as loved here as among us Phillie fans he was with you. I'm sure if he could have written the script he would have chosen to remain a BlueJay and won it for all you. Still hate you guys for 93 though.

Speaking of spurned lover talk, you may want to stop grinding the axe dude.

People go to DJF for the comments, and people come here because they like how Tao and Ack write. If you don't like the content, and you just want to bitch, I think you should probably stay over that-a-way.

(But you enjoy being a pain in the ass, so any effort I put into those keystrokes was certainly wasted.)